“Getting thrown under the bus” in this way by clients can be demoralizing, to say the least. You have invested many hours in building a business relationship, only to find out that the client doesn’t trust you as much as you thought.

As a vendor, we are often the easiest people to throw under the bus. We work outside the client’s organization, and so there is rarely any internal political cost to blaming the vendor when something goes wrong. Vendors are also (wrongly) seen as expendable, since the company can always go put the project out to bid and find some new vendors and solutions.

If you want to salvage the business relationship, or better yet, avoid getting thrown under the bus by a client in the first place, here are a few tips for what to do and what to avoid.

Here are a few ways to identify clients who are likely to be “bus throwers.” Often there are several of these factors in play, and the more there are, the more of a toxic mix you have:

1) Clients who are new to their positions. They might not have encountered a situation like the one they’re hiring you to help solve, or they might not have been responsible for implementing this type of solution before.

2) Clients who are new to their jobs and “in way over their heads.” If a client is inexperienced or lacking in management skills, this raises the risk that they will blame you first when things go wrong.

3) Clients who are in their jobs and “in way over their heads” and who were hired by bosses who are also “in way over their heads.” This situation multiplies the risk. Clients who feel insecure in their positions will want to make themselves look better and make their bosses look better – and they will protect their own reputations even if that means throwing you under the bus.

4) Company culture of “micro management.” If your client and your client’s company aren’t good at delegating and letting people do their jobs, this is another risk factor for an unpleasant client experience.

5) Companies in new industries where there is no previous operational or marketing path to follow. These folks are making it up as they go along. They have “great” new ideas that they ask you to execute, but any mistakes will soon become your blunders.

6) Clients who come from other industries where they have been very successful and are now taking over a new business segment and begin to apply rules that worked in their previous experience – without knowing whether the rules will work.

What happens if you get thrown under the bus by a client?

First, keep in mind that it’s not personal, it’s just business. Even though you might feel frustrated, angry, or even betrayed, try not to let your emotions get in the way.

Instead, try to salvage what you can. Find out what parts of the contract can still be upheld. Try to talk to other allies or key decision makers within the company and find out if there are other opportunities to serve other parts of the company away from your bus-throwing client.

If the business relationship cannot be saved, look to minimize the damage to your company’s reputation. Deal with the situation gracefully. Don’t give the client any ammunition to use against you by bad-mouthing you and your company in the marketplace.

Closing a sale can be tough enough, without having to worry about the deal blowing up in your face. Getting thrown under the bus by a client is never fun, and once it happens there isn’t always much you can do to minimize the damage. Instead, prevention is the best medicine. Try to avoid the clients who are most likely to throw you under the bus. Watch out for potentially toxic situations. Try to work with clients who are secure in their jobs, who are trusted by their bosses, and who communicate with candor and authenticity (without seeming to have any hidden agendas).

Some of the best responses came from three of our LinkedIn Group Members: Joel Bash, Thomas Clifford, and Monika D’Agostino.

We asked:

What are some successful ways of using LinkedIn for lead generation? How have you used LinkedIn to get through to prospects? What real-life success stories or lessons would you like to share?

Here are a few of the success stories and LinkedIn lead generation tips from our special “panel of experts.”

Joel Bash – First, find your true target market

“Business Development is akin to building a muscle in the body. If the muscle is being worked out on a consistent basis with enough force, it will build up to a desired mass of beauty and strength. The same goes for Business Development. What I’ve seen in my 28 years of doing Business Development is that most people don’t focus on the muscle that they want to build up. They just build up any muscle that they can get to and hope for the best.

“In other words, people do not meet their exact target market on a regular basis – and yet they wonder why they are not achieving the desired results. They go to networking groups, events, etc. and come back with a mound of business cards, only to find out that 90% of these people do not have the ability to help them even if they want to – and the remaining 10% don’t get sufficient follow-up. So there you have it.

“LinkedIn or any other bastion of referrals can only be helpful if the target market prospect is being sought. Just ask people in general, how many prospects they meet in a week and then ask them, how many are actual targets? Many people haven’t properly identified their target market.

“It is very prudent to duplicate one’s past successes. Once you know your target market, it is relatively easy to find an abundance of sales leads through your friends, contacts, LinkedIn, etc. It just requires the same discipline as building a muscle.”

Joel Bash is President at Joel Bash & Company, Business Introductions Connector and Business Development Consultant.

Thomas Clifford: Using LinkedIn Advanced Search to find the perfect fit with prospects

“I use LinkedIn’s Advanced Search tool exclusively as a successful lead generating tool. For instance, I recently did a search for content marketing firms where I wanted to get my foot in the door.

“After narrowing down the results to just a handful of companies I wanted to target, I chose one firm to target.

“I then researched the firm further and learned more about their target market. I knew the fit was perfect. I then wrote a one-page, conversational, non-salesy letter (yes, the old-fashioned type of letter!), signed it and mailed it to the Founder and CEO.

“The response was amazing. I received an enthusiastic email from the Founder and CEO saying how thrilled she was to be reading a ‘real’ letter—she never sees them anymore. She then passed my letter on to her head recruiter, and I am now considered a copywriting resource for the firm.”

Thomas Clifford is a B2B Content Marketing Copywriter.

Monika D’Agostino: Research, research, research.

“I use LinkedIn to generate leads and qualify prospects all the time. It’s a great way to find out if people actually are still with a company. Way too often you will find names on lists but they have already moved on, so LinkedIn validates them as a professional, and also provides insight on the groups that they are part of.

“LinkedIn can also be an effective way to get your foot in the door with a prospect’s company. Use LinkedIn and other tools to research the company and the prospect. The more you know about your prospect, the better equipped you are to have an intelligent conversation.

“Prospecting is about finding a fit and the more you research, the better qualified your prospecting will be.”

Monika D’Agostino is the Chief Consultative Sales Officer with Consultative Sales Academy.

Thanks again to everyone who submitted ideas. We would love to hear from you about other sales lead generation, prospecting and marketing topics in the future.

Unfortunately, many B2B sales people get intimidated by selling to big companies. There are some common obstacles and misconceptions related to selling to big companies, but you don’t have to let the size of the company or the (seeming) complexity of the organization keep you from pursuing the opportunity.

Here are a few tips for how your sales team can close more sales with big companies:

Prove that you’re no fly-by-night organization: One of the biggest objections that big companies have to doing business with smaller organizations is that they’re worried that the smaller companies (or their solutions) won’t be around in a few years. Big companies tend to have longer timelines and need to purchase solutions and services for the long haul. During your sales process in talking with decision makers at big companies, be prepared for this type of objection or skepticism. Look for ways to build trust and show that your company is well established and is determined to be around for a long time to come.

Show that you have capacity: Another concern that big companies usually have when talking with new contractors or solutions providers is: “Is your company big enough to serve our needs?” Big companies don’t want to work with small companies who don’t have enough capacity to deliver what they need. To overcome this objection, show examples of big contracts that your company has handled, and offer references from decision makers at other big companies. Demonstrate that you can handle challenges just like the ones faced by your big corporate clients, and you’ll start closing more deals.

Sell small before you sell big: Don’t expect a big corporation to buy your full offering of solutions. Chances are, a company of that size already has plenty of existing vendor relationships in place – and will be reluctant to go through all the inconvenience and upheaval that goes with putting a big contract out to bid, unless they have a very compelling reason to do so. Instead of pitching a big corporation on a comprehensive package of solutions or services, start small. Do your research, talk with your prospects, and identify a highly focused problem that you can help solve. Once you can convince your prospect of the value of your service, even if it’s a much smaller contract than you would normally go for, you can build up your credibility and make bigger sales to other parts of the company in the future.

Talk in terms of benefits: One of the biggest B2B sales mistakes is talking about your company and your product in terms of “features” instead of “benefits.” Remember that every prospect is thinking, “What’s in it for me?” And this is especially true at big companies, where time is short, budgets are tight, and decision makers are being bombarded from all directions with too much work, too little time, and too many sales calls interrupting their day. So before you start cold-calling big companies, make sure your sales pitch is extra sharply focused on the problems that you solve: can your solution increase productivity, achieve cost savings, or reduce head count? Capture the attention of your prospect by honing in on the biggest problems they want to solve – and explain in clear language how your solution can help.

Track your contacts: Selling to big companies requires a longer-term effort and a more sophisticated way of tracking your outreach. Plan ahead for which sales pitches and value propositions you want to emphasize within the different parts of the company and the different decision makers. Set up a dedicated campaign in your CRM system (or keep track on a spreadsheet) where you keep names, contact information, and detailed notes of every person you’ve talked to at the big company – whether they’re a decision maker, gatekeeper or potential ally. Send helpful articles or industry news or event invitations, and keep track of which materials you’ve sent to which people – and then keep cycling through your lists of names, following up as needed and building relationships along the way.

Selling to big companies requires a specific sales strategy. You need to build relationships just like you would with any sales prospect, but you also need to be sensitive to the unique needs and concerns of a larger company. If you put in the effort and stick with your sales process for the long term, you will find that selling to big companies offers lucrative rewards for your organization.

A big part of success in managing sales leads is developing a better way to understand and manage your company’s sales funnel. Here are a few of the biggest mistakes that small business leaders tend to make in managing their sales funnels – and ideas on how you can get better results.

Mistake #1: Always asking for “more sales leads.” Many companies make the mistake of thinking that they can get better sales results just by constantly engaging in lead generation activities to “dump more leads into the funnel.” This is a costly and inefficient way of getting more sales, because it takes time, effort and investment to find more sales leads. Chances are good that your business can improve your sales results by doing a better job of managing the sales leads you already have, instead of constantly hunting for more and more sales leads.

Mistake #2: Focusing on CRM technology instead of your sales process. Many sales organizations make the mistake of investing in expensive customer relationship management (CRM) software but without a clear understanding of how they want to use the CRM software to improve their sales process. CRM technology can be a valuable tool, but it cannot replace a smart strategy for understanding and adjusting your sales activities to line up with your biggest priorities in your sales process. For example, you as a small business leader need to understand what is happening at every stage of your sales process. Are you failing to generate enough appointments during your initial contacts with new sales leads? Are your sales appointments failing to result in enough follow-up sales presentations? Where in the sales process are you having the most difficulty, and what can you do differently? These are the questions that CRM tools can help you answer, but you can’t rely solely on technology to do the hard work of identifying and fixing the problems.

Mistake #3: Not training your sales team. Sales training is not just for new hires. Sales people need motivation, coaching and a clear idea of what they’re selling and how to adjust to customers’ changing needs and expectations. You have to constantly keep your sales people up to date on the latest ideas and sales techniques. Help your sales team learn from each other and collaborate by sharing their experiences on what works and what doesn’t. Listen to your sales people during their sales calls and offer coaching and guidance on how to improve.

Mistake #4: Not measuring each stage of your sales funnel. Many sales organizations focus too much on their final deal closing ratios, and don’t pay enough attention to the conversion ratios that lead up to the final negotiations with the buyer. Take a look at all stages of your sales process and measure your success rate at each stage. For example, out of 100 sales leads, how many will agree to an initial appointment? How many of those appointments lead to a more extensive sales presentation? Where in your sales process are the biggest successes and the biggest opportunities to improve?

Managing your sales funnel needs to be part of an ongoing effort to see what is happening within your sales process and adjusting along the way. If you have a clear understanding of where your challenges are coming from, which parts of the process need to improve, and constantly coach your sales team to improve their efforts at each stage of your sales funnel, you will start to see a better result in the most important number of all – sales.

Some of the best sales conversations include one special moment that makes people step back and take notice, that changes people’s perspective, or that creates a startling moment of insight and clarity – this is what we call an “Ah ha!” moment. It’s that moment in a conversation when you suddenly develop a new understanding of the problem, and clear-headed way to focus on a solution.

An “Ah ha!” moment for one of your prospects might be the moment they realize that your solution has potential to improve their situation and solve their problem. Or it might be that moment where they say, “Hmmm…this sounds promising, but how long will it take to implement?” or “I’d like to hear more about this. Can you meet with me and my department heads?”

When you know how to read your prospects’ emotions and empathize with them, you can guide your conversation in the right direction. Creating “Ah ha!” moments is the best way to close more sales – because you’ve created a moment of clarity in the customer’s own mind, where they suddenly know that what you’re selling might make sense for them.

One of the tenets of selling that I believe in is that sales professionals should think like problem solvers. Helping your customers achieve an “Ah ha!” moment through your sales conversations is part of this process of solving problems, and it should be one of your goals for every sales call. It won’t happen every time, but if you use a few of these key principles, you can guide your prospects in the right direction.

Here are a few simple ways that you can create more “Ah ha!” moments for your customers in every sales conversation:

Ask compelling questions: There should be no “Yes/No” answers in a good sales conversation. Instead, ask open-ended, probing questions to help the customer open up and talk about their larger challenges and the bigger picture of where their organization is heading. This can give you more opportunities to “read between the lines” and ask follow-up questions to identify pain points. Prospects rarely come right out and tell you, “This is my pain point, this is what I need to fix.” Instead, you as the sales person need to empathize with them, listen to them, and ask questions that help build trust and get them to confide in you.

Go with the flow: The best sales conversations do not “stick to the script.” Yes, you need to have an organized sense of what you want to say on the call and which key points you want to make, and which questions you need to be ready to answer. However, great sales people never sound “scripted.” Great sales conversations are able to go in different directions depending on the flow of conversation and the specific interests and needs of the prospect. The best way to identify the customer’s pain points is to listen and be ready to adjust the conversation to the customer’s specific concerns. If you constantly re-direct prospects back to your “sales script,” or keep trying to focus their attention on what you’re selling, you’re going to lose them. Instead, stay focused on what they’re worried about – and how you can help resolve those concerns.

Build trust: We’ve all been recipients of bad cold calls and inept sales pitches. For that reason, prospects are naturally inclined to be distrustful. You need to quickly earn their trust by showing that you’re a legitimate professional and industry peer who is concerned about helping their business. Before you even get on the phone, do your research. Know something about the person you’re calling. Look them up on LinkedIn, show that you know their company and their industry and their products. If you can demonstrate to your prospects that you have a sincere and compelling reason for calling them today, they’ll want to keep talking.

“Ah ha!” moments don’t just happen by accident. They happen because smart, empathetic sales people know how to guide a conversation in the right direction and know how to anticipate the prospect’s needs, and listen to the prospect’s unique concerns. Once you know how to create “Ah ha!” sales conversations, you’ll be ready to start closing more deals.

If you’re looking for new ways to take your business to new heights in 2013, you can start by looking at your sales lead management processes. Effectively managing sales leads can make the difference between a top-performing sales organization and an “also-ran.” With most companies facing intensifying competition, pressure on profit margins, and a slow economic recovery, doing things right on the “back end” of your sales process can pay big dividends when it’s time to close the deal.

Here are 4 top New Year’s resolutions that any sales organization can employ to create a more efficient and profitable 2013:

1. Take better care of long range business leads: Wondering why you have a never-ending need for new fresh sales leads? According to a recent study from the Aberdeen Group, only 16% of leads that are deemed sales opportunities actually close. That means that without a formal lead nurturing program, the remaining 84% of qualified leads that do not turn into short-term sales are slipping through the cracks. Sales people are always clamoring for “more business leads,” but they often make the mistake of not stopping to ask, “Are we making the best use of our current sales leads?”

Chances are your sales team – whether they realize or not – are shutting the door on many older business leads. Maybe your sales team completed a follow-up call several months ago (or even a year or two ago) and did not receive a favorable response. This doesn’t mean that the sales leads are truly “done.” Ask yourself, “What has changed since we last approached these business leads?” Perhaps your lineup of services has changed. Perhaps your prospects are now at a different place in their purchasing cycle than they were a year ago. Perhaps your prospects’ business needs have changed. Whatever the change may be, take a fresh start and pursue these “old” business leads with a new angle. What is “old” can be “new” again in the New Year.  We make sure to re-establish contact with “old” sales leads every six months to see if our services are now needed. A lot can change with your prospect’s business in 6 months.

2. Make frequent, frank assessments of your pipeline of business leads: Make honest and realistic assessments of the condition of your sales pipeline. Establish some new benchmarks for 2013 to measure your conversion rates at each step of the sale – and look beyond the simple metrics of conversion-and-close ratios. For example, the Aberdeen study reports that nurtured leads deliver 47% higher average order values. This means that properly managing your pipeline can create a compelling return on investment. Aberdeen also found that nurtured leads result in increased opportunity to sales conversion ratios, and higher bid-to-win ratios. Finding these “hidden value” deals within your pipeline means you need a system of multiple marketing touches to uncover opportunities along the way.

Too many sales pipelines look great on paper or in your database reports, but in reality your projections and probabilities of closing deals may be too “rosy.” Knowledge is power: if your sales pipeline needs to be expanded with additional lead generation efforts, you need to know this as soon as possible so you can react. A better managed sales pipeline will create a more predictable sales process and a smoother revenue curve, without extreme spikes and valleys.

3. When decision makers disappoint you, be patient and have a system in place: Rejection is an occupational hazard in sales, and it’s not easy hearing customers say “No” and “Not interested” all day long. But the reality of a good lead generation and lead management program is that your sales team are always going to have “not interested” responses to sift through. Managing “not interested” responses requires patience, discipline and a consistent system with different protocols to handle the different varieties and “flavors” of responses. For example, if you get a “not interested” response from a key target account that is high on your priority target list, that target account should be put on a monthly e-mail list and set in your “come up” system for a follow up call in 8-12 weeks. “Not interested” does not mean that the conversation is over. Most of the time, when a prospect says they are not interested, they really mean, “We’re not interested right now,” or “The product is not a good fit for our current operational needs.” However, customers’ needs can change rapidly – whether it’s new technology coming on to the market, or trying to keep up with competitors, or adjusting to changing internal dynamics within the customer’s company. Don’t take yourself out of the running by mindlessly disqualifying prospects based on one “not interested” response. You need to be able to handle the nuances of different types of responses and different priority levels of customers – otherwise, you run the risk of constantly contracting your own marketplace, without any system to reintroduce yourself and remarket to your potential customers.

4. Overcome sales call reluctance: Too often, sales people talk themselves out of making a sales call. Whether it’s lack of confidence, lack of understanding of the prospect’s business, or lack of a compelling angle to approach the customer, sales call reluctance is a profit killer. After all, you lose 100% of the sales that you never try to make. How many times have you visited a prospect’s website and then systematically talked yourself out of picking up the phone to make the follow up call? This year, make it a resolution to be more open to possibilities. Be prepared for your prospects to surprise you. Prospects that may not initially fit your ideal client profile (based on what you see on their website) might turn out to be better suited than you expected, once you get them on the phone. It’s not uncommon to find that the website you were looking at is not up to date and doesn’t reflect a recent merger. I can’t begin to tell you how many times prospects might have introduced a new product line, or ended a relationship with a current service provider, and we followed up just at the right time as they were starting their new selection process. You will never know unless you make the call.

Sales is the business of creating something from nothing, making the calls and making things happen with customers every day. Every year is a chance to make a bigger difference for our customers, our companies and ourselves. I hope these New Year’s resolutions will help you get out there and have a great start to 2013!

About the Author
Al Davidson is the founder of Strategic Sales & Marketing, a “leading light” among lead generation companies since 1989, helping to deliver B2B lead generation and appointment setting services for global clients ranging from local small businesses to the Fortune 100. The company’s sales agents have generated over 7 million new sales leads, and created millions of dollars in new revenue for clients. You can learn more about Al Davidson by visiting http://www.manageyourleads.com/

Whether your boss is a sales manager or a higher-level executive, unfortunately there are many sales people’s bosses who have a few misconceptions or outdated ideas about what really leads to sales success.

Here are a few of the most important things about sales that your boss might not know:

• Sales is all about building relationships: Whether you want to call it “rapport,” “trust” or “credibility,” the core truth of sales is that it is a business of relationships. Prospects won’t want to hear from you if they don’t trust you, or if they don’t believe that you’re looking out for their best interests. Customers won’t return your calls if they don’t respect your judgment. Instead of simply dialing lots of numbers and breezing through your calling script, take time to invest in a longer conversation and a longer-term relationship with your customers. Try to get your customers to perceive you as an expert in your field, an industry peer and colleague.

• Sales is not about dialing phones, it’s about exerting influence: Yes, sales people need to make the calls. And it’s true that the more calls you dial, the more sales you ultimately make. But what’s more important than the daily numbers game of making calls is what you do with each conversation while you’re on the phone. How influential can you be as a sales person? The most successful sales people have a way of connecting with what their prospects want, empathizing with their prospect’s challenges, and guiding the conversation toward a resolution which shows the prospect how the sales person can help.

• Sales is a matter of generosity: Too many people (some bosses included) believe that sales is a game of seeing how much you can “get” from your prospects and customers – “get” them to agree to an appointment, “get” them to buy from you, get them to commit to a bigger contract, etc. But in today’s sales world, where customers are time-starved and budgets are tighter than ever, successful sales people are recalibrating their methods and discovering the advantages of generosity. Instead of treating sales as a competition with the customer where you try to “get” as much as possible from them, successful sales people try to see how much they can “give” to the customers. For example, can you give your customers some free business intelligence, insights, or advice – even if the customer isn’t ready to buy? Can you give your customers your undivided attention and offer them your honest analysis on how to improve their situation? Instead of jumping the gun and trying to close the sale immediately, look for ways to be a generous problem solver for your customers – and then watch as the sales and referrals come to you.

Sales people are often misunderstood (by customers and by our bosses) because people think we can just automatically dial through a calling list, unleash a sales script, and make magic happen in any sales situation. The truth is more complicated.

Sales don’t just happen automatically. Each sale results from a series of interactions and trust-building conversations to guide a prospect through the sales process. Every customer is different, with their own unique needs, problems and points of pain.

Successful sales people are experts at the art of building relationships, exercising influence, and representing our companies with generosity, tact and interpersonal intuition. No matter what advances we see in technology, sales success comes down to this human element of building relationships, one person at a time.

There is no one single reason why some sales performers close so many more deals than others. Some people are natural sales pros who have an innate ability to relate to customers and move effortlessly through the sales cycle, while others don’t have the right personality or style to build effective sales relationships. But for the most part, aside from a few outliers who are either 100% natural sales talents or just aren’t the right fit for the sales profession, we believe that sales is a skill that can be learned and taught over time.

If your sales team can learn from the success of your top performers (and replicate those skills and behaviors with the rest of your sales team), your entire organization will benefit.

Here are few reasons why top sales performers stand out from the rest:

• Empathy: Top sales performers understand what the customer needs. They know how to ask the right questions, listen to what the customer is saying, and act upon the customer’s needs. A common mistake made by lower-performing sales reps is treating all customers the same, or assuming that the rep knows what is always right for the customer, or trying to foist off a certain offer or solution on the customer regardless of what the customer wants. Top performers know how to build relationships with customers based on trust and mutual respect. They earn credibility as industry peers. They show how much they care about the customer and they know how to align their solution with the customer’s business needs.

• Adaptability: The best sales reps know how to think on their feet and respond to changing situations. In case a customer is not receptive to a certain offer or approach, they can quickly shift to “Plan B” and keep the conversation going. Top performing sales reps never sound like they are reading from a script or reciting a pre-planned conversation. They know how to go with the flow in any sales conversation, drawing upon their diverse experiences and expertise to deepen the customer relationship and discover new opportunities along the way.

• Consistency: Top sales performers aren’t always dazzling conversationalists or glad-handing backslappers. The best sales people have all kinds of personalities and professional styles – but one thing they tend to have in common is a rigorous sense of focus and consistency. They have a seemingly innate ability to focus on the right sales activities, every day, that help build a strong sales pipeline. Top sales performers aren’t only good at closing deals. They also know how to do the legwork and research and emotional labor of dialing the phone time and time again. Top sales performers know how to create such a rich array of opportunities that it ultimately takes the pressure off of them when it’s time to close – although they tend to have higher closing conversion rates as well.

• Action: One of the things that holds a lot of sales people back is that they think too much. They obsess, fret, worry, plot, plan…but ultimately waste a lot of time when they could have been picking up the phone. Instead of worrying about the #1 optimum way to approach each and every customer, instead of over-analyzing every single move, top sales performers know how to take decisive action. They are impatient for action. This doesn’t mean that they are unprepared or impetuous, but it does mean that once they have enough information about a prospect, they know how to simply, calmly take action and put the conversation into motion.

Imagine what could happen if you would impart these skills to the rest of your sales team! Many of these characteristics come more easily to some people than others – not everyone is good at thinking on their feet, and some people empathize more easily than others. But for the most part, everyone on your sales team should be able to take a close look at their personal skills and behavior patterns, and find a way to become more like the top performers.

Fortunately there is a way to bridge the gap – your sales team can generate more sales leads by implementing a lead generation referral program.

When you start a lead generation referral program, you can  increase your number of sales leads and will also likely improve the quality of your sales leads. The reason is that referrals typically have a quicker sales cycle because there is a level of built-in trust. People are more interested to talk to your sales team on lead generation calls (and more open to agreeing to a sales appointment) if your sales reps can mention the name of a trusted friend or colleague who referred them.

But how can you get a lead generation referral program up and running? Isn’t it expensive and time consuming? It doesn’t have to be. Here are a few simple guidelines for how your team can create a lead generation referral program (or improve the one you already have):

Keep your customers happy: Happy customers refer their colleagues. If they are grateful for the efforts you have put in, they will reward you. If you’ve helped a customer boost their business, they’ll be eager to help their colleagues or friends share in that success.  Sometimes you won’t even have to ask. Your best customers might also turn out to be your hardest-working “unpaid” marketing staff.

Align your goals with your customers’ interests: Make sure your lead generation referral program is doing something valuable for the customers and prospects who you are asking to refer you to others. Don’t just make it all about “you” and your company’s needs. Instead, make sure it is a mutually beneficial arrangement where you can give the referring party some kind of valuable and worthwhile reward, whether it is a discount, a cash bonus, or something else that thanks them for the referral and makes them feel appreciated.

Be ready to spend the right amount of money: If you’re going to give away a reward to people who refer you to other prospective business leads, make sure the reward is significant. Take a hard look at the value of a sales lead – examine your conversion rates and calculate the value of a customer. Is it worth it to your company to offer $100 or more for each new sales lead? You need to be prepared to invest some money in rewarding your customers who participate in the lead generation referral program, but you also need to make sure your investments are profitable.

Make it easy: If you’re asking people for referrals, you’re asking them for a pretty big favor – they are going to be taking time out of their busy day to help your business find new customers. So make it as easy as possible for people to offer referrals. Include a “refer us to a friend” link in the e-mails you send to customers. Put a prominent button on your website for your lead generation program, and make sure it’s easily visible so you can point people to it during phone conversations. Don’t tie your rewards to a specific amount of spending – just give your referral rewards on a per-lead basis.

Make “the ask”: As part of your sales team’s conversations with prospects, if they encounter resistance and objections, ask the prospects if they could refer your company to any colleagues who might be interested. For example, you can make a request for referrals by saying: “It sounds like you might not be at the right point in your purchasing process to talk to us – but do you know of anyone else at your company or in your industry who might be a better fit for what we offer?” Frame the conversation not as simply trying to generate more sales leads for yourself, but as a way to help the prospect’s friends and colleagues.

Don’t forget to qualify your new sales leads: A common mistake that sales people make when they get leads from a lead generation referral program is to assume that all the leads are highly qualified and ready to buy. It’s true that getting a referral can often give your sales team an advantage in building trust with the prospect – but your sales people still need to be prepared to do their research, learn about the prospects, and go through the sales cycle just like they would for any other sales leads.

Getting sales leads from a lead generation referral program can be one of the most cost-effective and targeted methods for improving your sales team’s pool of qualified sales leads. But you need to remember to serve the interests of your prospects and customers (by offering them worthwhile rewards), and integrating the referred sales leads into your overall lead management process. Referrals can give your sales team a head start, but you still need to do the legwork of doing research, building relationships and working through the sales cycle from start to finish.

By making incremental improvements in the way we operate, salespeople have a unique opportunity to see big results.

1. Be a problem solver: The best sales people do more than just dial the phone and meet with customers – they are creative, innovative, energized professional problem solvers and relationship builders.  Your job is NOT to sell a company your particular service offering, rather to solve their problems.  Once you change your mind set to think of your role as a problem solver, you will learn to be more tuned in to your prospects pain issues and what motivates them.  Start looking at your position as a problem solver and will see a difference in your client interaction.

2. Offer information: Sales people need to constantly work to build trust with customers as part of the process of nurturing sales leads over time. One of the best ways to build trust with customers is to share the latest news, industry trends and business intelligence. If you find an article about their industry that you think would benefit the customer, share it with them – even if you didn’t write it.

3. Conquer your fear of rejection: Sales is a tough job because prospects are constantly rejecting you – hanging up, saying “no,” sometimes even acting brusque or rude. The best sales people know how to rise above the daily rejections and keep pressing forward. Remind yourself that you are a talented professional with a great solution to offer the right customers. Remember that there are a lot of customers who need what you have to offer, and that you’re going to find them and connect with them. Face the rejection head-on. After all, who cares if someone rejects you? It’s not personal. They’re just busy and don’t have time to talk, or they’ve been discouraged by too many time-wasting phone calls from other less scrupulous sales people. Customer rejection is not about you, it’s about them. The best sales people have thick skin and maintain control of their emotional state even in the face of adversity – but this unflappable nature is usually not something people are born with; it’s a way of being that is earned over time. Let the rejections go, and keep moving forward to talk to the people who will be happy to hear from you – they are waiting for someone like you to help them.

4. Ask for contact information: Sales people often find themselves on the phone with the wrong person – i.e. an administrative assistant in the wrong department, reporting up the wrong chain of command to get to your ultimate decision maker. But don’t give up just because your calling list had the wrong information – instead, be direct and ask the person on the phone to help you out. Instead of hanging up, ask the person you’re speaking to, “Could you give me the phone number for (NAME OF DECISION MAKER)?”

5. Ask for the next appointment: Every salesperson needs to constantly guide the prospect through the sales cycle. Every conversation needs to end with the sales person asking the prospect to commit to a future conversation – whether it’s on the phone, in person or via web conference. Before you can “make the ask” and close the deal, you need to make the “ask” for your next appointment.

6. Take better notes: Many sales people make the mistake of taking sparse or incomplete notes about their sales calls. Taking better notes can give you a trove of useful information for your next conversation with the customer. Write down specific details about which objections, questions and issues came up during the conversation. Not only are these details important for closing a deal with the customer in the future, but they might also be helpful for conversations with other customers. Make a list of questions, objections and challenges that you weren’t able to answer – then compare notes with other colleagues on the sales team, do some research, and follow up with the customer on a future call. Showing that you’re committed to finding the right answers will help you build trust with the prospect.

7. Learn from your colleagues: The best sales people don’t feel threatened by the successes of their peers, they celebrate team success and find a way to learn from the successes of others on the sales team. If one of your peers recently landed a big account, find out how they did it. Take your successful peers out for lunch or coffee and ask for advice on which sales techniques have been working for them. Good sales people know that success is not a zero-sum game. They will want to help other people on the sales team improve their results so that the whole team can benefit.

Being a better salesperson is often not a matter of making drastic improvements, but instead is about making smaller improvements in multiple areas over time. No matter how successful you are as a salesperson, you can achieve better results by adjusting your performance in at least one of these areas. Sales combines aspects of art and science: it’s about passion, motivation, drive, and interpersonal performance, but it’s also about managing details, monitoring a process, and striving for rigor and excellence.